Railroad wheel with wear resistant flange

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to the railroad wheel with wear resistant flange ( 3 ) or tire or rim, including the surfaces, which can touch the rail during traveling. The essence of the disclosure consists therein, that on the circumferential inner surface ( 4 ) of flange ( 3 ) of the wheel ( 2 ) is placed in durable manner an anti-abrasion layer ( 1 ).

The subject of the invention is the railroad wheel with wear resistantof flange used in the different kinds of rail transport: railways, tramsand mine transport.

In railway engineering occur permanently the serious problems withexcessive grindability of the lateral surfaces of flanges being presenton the tires and wheel rims. The smallest offset of the wheel sets inthe rail track results in rolling of wheels along the circles havingdifferent radii and in consequence results in change of the angle ofattack of wheel onto the rails. During rolling of the axle sets on thestraight track, the wheel flanges in principle do not touch the rails atdefinite speeds, but on the curves at high speeds it comes toconsiderable friction between these flanges and head of rail, whatresults in high grindability and thus to wear called also undercuttingof these flanges (sharp flanges), which could even threaten thetravelling safety in railway transport.

The steady quiet running of the rail-vehicle, travelling safety, noiselevel emitted during vehicle travelling on the track as well as theservice life between interval of time between subsequent very expensiverepairs of the wheel sets depends in large measure on the geometricalfeatures of the rolling profile. Within the framework of these repairsthe dozen of thousands of railroad wheels are re-profiled in order torestore the correct dimensions of the wheel sets.

Up to now, for example, in order to reduce the grindability of the wheelflanges and to prolong the overhaul intervals, the different kinds oflubricants and devices for the lubrication of above mentioned wheelflanges and rails are being used, particularly on the curves in thetrack.

So far, from the analytical & theoretical publication “Application ofelastohydrodynamic theories of lubrication to rail/wheel systems withcurved tracks”, Technical University of Silesia—fascicle 22 (transport),M. Sitarz, H. P. Evans—1994, it is known the elastohydrodynamiclubrication of the railroad wheel flanges during travelling on curves inthe track with high external loads. It is foreseen, that suchlubrication of the wheel-rail system can reduce the wear of rails andwheels 5-7 times and reduce the fuel consumption by about 30%. Itresults from the numerical calculations that the biggest changes in oilfilm thickness occur within the radius range R=(13-15) mm.

The publication “Running gears of track-vehicles”, Z. Romaniszyn, Ed.Technical University of Krakow, 2005, discloses the known devices forlubrication of wheel flanges using oils, sticky greases or solid oils.The latter comprise the inserts manufactured from the polymer-stabilizedconstituents, enabling obtainment of low friction factor values, rangingfrom 0.06 to 0.1; insensitive to variations within wide temperaturerange. The known lubricant application devices include, among otherthings, the appliance consisting mostly of electronic control system,connected with the transmitter of speedometer, feeding conduit, oiltank, pneumatic solenoid valve, spraying device and low-pressure oil andair pipes. The primary task of the electronic system is steering thepneumatic and hydraulic part of the lubrication system, which lubricatesthe borders of rail and wheel surfaces. The operating personnel oftrack-vehicle chooses the track sections requiring activation orstoppage of above mentioned lubricating system.

The hitherto existing methods and devices aiming at increasing thedurability of railroad wheels by lubricating the flanges of the latterare difficult and troublesome ones. The common disadvantage of thesesolutions could be imperfect devices and control systems in dosage oflubricant. The lubrication of the wheel flange should be performed closebefore the curve in the track in exactly determined place, that is onthe wheel flange. An inaccurate supplying of lubricant shall not fulfilthe required task, and besides the grease could get at the rollingsurfaces of the railroad wheels producing the disturbances in vehiclebraking.

The purpose of present invention is exclusion of lubrication of thewheel flange surfaces in contact with rail, especially on curves in thetrack, in order to reduce the cost of repairs and re-profiling of thewheel sets due to excessive grindability.

In accordance with the present invention this purpose was successfullyaccomplished. The essence of the invention consists in placing of thedurable anti-abrasion layer on the circumferential inner and/or outersurface of the wheel flange. The circumferential anti-abrasion layerspreads advantageously in its width to the fore-part of the rollingsurface of the railroad wheel from one side, and to the fore-part of theflange rounding from the other side. On the surface of outer side ofsaid flange is placed additionally a durable circumferentialanti-abrasion layer. The circumferential anti-abrasion layer is placedin durable manner round the whole flange tip and on its lateral initialsections: inner and outer ones.

The application of the durable anti-abrasion layer can increase 5 to 7times the lifetime of the wheel flanges and his profile, reduce theenergy consumption by about 30% when travelling on curves in the track,reduce emission of noise in form of squeaks, improve the travellingsafety by reducing the derailment threat during running at the curvesand switch turnouts.

The subject of present invention is shown in form of examples ofexecution in figures, wherein FIG. 1. shows in lateral view and inbroken-out section a portion of the running wheel set and FIGS. 2 to4—details A designated in FIG. 1 representing the examples of executionof the railroad wheel including its wear resistant flange, particularlyregarding the kind of use.

In accordance with the invention (FIG. 2), on the circumferential outersurface 4 of flange 3 of the wheel 2 is placed in durable manner theanti-abrasion layer 1. Depending on the need, for given kind oftransport mean, for execution of the anti-abrasion layer can beadvantageously applied for example, bronze, teflon, bronze with graphiteand/or molybdenum disulfide. As shown in FIG. 3, the circumferentialanti-abrasion layer 1 a spreads advantageously in its width to thefore-part 5 c of the rolling surface 5 of the railroad wheel 2 from oneside, and to the fore-part 6 c of rounding 6 of flange 3 from the otherside. FIG. 4 shows additional durable layer 1 b placed on the innersurface 7 of the flange 3. Instead in FIG. 5 an optional structure hasbeen represented, for example for the tram lines, where thecircumferential anti-abrasion layer 1 c is placed on the surface roundthe whole tip 6 of flange 3 and on its lateral outer and inner surfaces4 and 7.

1. The railroad wheel with wear resistant flange, comprising the wheelflange surfaces, which have a frictional contact with rail duringtraveling, wherein an anti-abrasion layer made of bronze is placed indurable manner on the circumferential outer surface of flange of thewheel.
 2. The railroad wheel according to claim 1, wherein thecircumferential anti-abrasion layer spreads on the circumferential outersurface of flange to the fore-part of the rolling surface of therailroad wheel from one side, and to the fore-part of rounding of flangefrom the other side.
 3. The railroad wheel according to claim 2, whereina durable circumferential anti-abrasion layer is placed additionally onthe inner surface of flange.
 4. The railroad wheel according to claim 1,wherein the circumferential anti-abrasion layer is placed on the surfaceround the whole tip of flange and on its lateral outer and innersurfaces and.